War of words over addiction program's fate

OASAS head defends closure of Peter Young program

Published 10:25 pm, Sunday, March 19, 2017

Father Peter Young goes through some of the letters he's received from people in prison in his office in the basement of the Picot Building on Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. Father Young said they write to him trying to find services for themselves on their way out of prison. "I try to find them housing, treatment and employment, they are in need of a support system when they get out. I always say I'm trying to turn them into tax paying citizens" Father Young said. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Father Peter Young goes through some of the letters he's received from people in prison in his office in the basement of the Picot Building on Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. Father Young said they ... more

Father Peter Young sits inside St. Mary's Chapel in the basement of the Picot Building on Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. Father Young holds a noon time mass in the chapel Monday through Friday each week. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Father Peter Young sits inside St. Mary's Chapel in the basement of the Picot Building on Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. Father Young holds a noon time mass in the chapel Monday through Friday each ... more

Father Peter Young who has lead many projects to help substance abusers listens to the discussion during a panel discussion on abuse of heroin and opioids this morning April 23, 2014 at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

Father Peter Young who has lead many projects to help substance abusers listens to the discussion during a panel discussion on abuse of heroin and opioids this morning April 23, 2014 at Hudson Valley Community ... more

The commissioner of the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services wrote a letter to multiple state legislators over the weekend defending her agency's efforts to shut down a sprawling addiction-treatment program run by an iconic Albany Roman Catholic priest.

The three-page letter from Commissioner Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez was addressed to Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy of Albany and several other legislators who last week called on OASAS to explain its reasons for cutting off funding to the Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment program, which was founded by 86-year-old Father Peter Young.

"OASAS and other state agencies, along with the Office of the Attorney General, have been unsuccessful in their efforts to persuade PYHIT to take the steps necessary to correct their administrative, operational and fiscal deficiencies," the commissioner wrote.

PYHIT, in an eight-page response on Sunday, characterized the commissioner's summary as "inaccurate" and said she has been "misinformed" by her staff. They also provided copies of financial records and state inspection reports they said contradict the information in the commissioner's critical letter.

The tension between Young's storied addiction-treatment organization, which took shape more than 50 years ago and eventually stretched from Brooklyn to Buffalo, boiled over last week following a Times Union article that laid bare the state's hard-line stance against Young and his supporters. The state's decision to cut off PYHIT's funding and access to state contracts has sent the nonprofit into a slow death spiral.

The situation became incendiary last summer when the OASAS general counsel, Robert A. Kent, launched into an obscenity-laced tirade directed at Young and volunteer members of his board of directors during a meeting where Kent refused to listen to their proposals for saving the organization.

"We are sick of you. We should have put you out of business two years ago," Kent told the group, according to multiple people who were at the meeting. "The state does not want to do f---ing business with you people."

Gonzalez-Sanchez and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have declined to address Kent's behavior and there's no indication he faced discipline for his remarks.

OASAS has carefully praised Young for his decades of hard work, but also said his organization has fallen apart, is financially unstable and is no longer able to function at the levels required by the state.

Without specifying the sites, Gonzalez-Sanchez in her letter cited prior state investigations that she said uncovered "systemic neglect" of PYHIT's facilities and led to citations for "maggot and bed bug infestations, unrepaired fire damage, a roof leaking into residential areas, inoperable sanitation facilities and numerous issues related to unsanitary and unsafe physical plant conditions."

The commissioner also described Young's organization as "over $5 million in debt" and still lacking administrative protocols to prevent the breakdowns that led to five former employees being convicted — in a criminal investigation that began in 2011 — with crimes ranging from padding expenses to embezzlement.

"PYHIT has also been cited for serious regulatory and operational deficiencies, failure to correct citations, inadequate staffing and failure to provide an environment conducive to recovery," Gonzalez-Sanchez wrote.

PYHIT responded that the commissioner's "disparaging language ... will certainly grab attention" but said the nonprofit's 12 licensed facilities all received near-perfect scores in OASAS inspection reports conducted during the past three years.

"OASAS's field inspectors did not give a single PYHIT facility a noncompliance rate on any of the PHYIT facilities, and almost all the PYHIT facilities were granted the three-year maximum license that OASAS is permitted to issue under the law," the organization's letter states.

PYHIT's response added that its efforts to make repairs at its facilities have been hampered by the state's decision to cut off maintenance funding that was granted in the past. Instead, the group said, the state offered another organization — Addictions Care Center of Albany — $100,000 per building for repairs if it took over a few of PYHIT's treatment facilities. PYHIT's letter said the state was "starving" their group of needed repair funds and is "now accusing PYHIT of not keeping up its facilities."

The organization also disputed the commissioner's allegations about its financial soundness, saying the organization has $3.5 million in "mortgage debt" on properties valued at about $9 million.

"Consultation with any banker or debt analyst will reveal that the debt to equity ratio of about 46 percent is at the superior end for debt analysis and evidences significant financial stability," PYHIT wrote.

At the explosive meeting with OASAS officials last July, PYHIT said their board members, including Saratoga National Golf Club owner Tom Newkirk, who holds the mortgages and is a longtime supporter of Young's, were not allowed by Kent to explain their financial stability. Newkirk said he was going to guarantee a "zero deficit" for the PYHIT programs for two years, but never got the chance to explain.

"It doesn't matter, we are shutting you down," Kent told the group. "It can go easy or not. ... We are sick and tired of you and we don't want to do business with you anymore."

OASAS officials said PYHIT's financial problems also include $650,000 owed to the state as repayment for funds that were expended for renovating a treatment program in Altamont that subsequently closed. PYHIT acknowledged the program in Altamont struggled because of the lack of state grants, but said they do not owe $650,000 because Kent has siphoned $80,000 a month from PYHIT's state funding for other programs since last September, which paid down that debt by more than $500,000.

Kent cut the $80,000 per month from three drug-treatment programs in Warren, Washington and Rensselaer counties that had contracts with PYHIT.

"Your staff's effort was to try to change the financial picture for PYHIT and to force it towards financial instability so that OASAS could make the assertions you now make in your letter," PYHIT said.

Finally, PYHIT's letter cited an independent audit of its operations that was commissioned by the state two years ago and gave it high marks for its treatment programs and the overall professionalism of its staff.

"It is significant that when OASAS received the report, your staff refused to provide a copy to PYHIT despite many requests over months, and it was only provided when PYHIT refused to meet with OASAS officials unless or until the report was provided," the organization wrote in its letter to the commissioner. "You have been provided inaccurate information by your staff to formulate your letter to Assemblywoman Fahy, and most of your assertions are directly contradicted by OASAS own internal documents."